Difficulties In Children Research Articles

CHILDHOOD DIFFICULTIES AND LATE-LIFE DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS: THE ROLE OF EDUCATION AND FAMILY COPING

Abstract This study aims to examine how childhood difficulties are associated with late-life psychological well-being. Both adverse experience in origin family, such as family dysfunction and economic hardship, and adulthood economic hardship are known to impede healthy coping and family satisfaction. Thus, using the Cumulative Advantage/Disadvantage Theory, current study further explores how individual’s socio-economic status and family relational aspects in late life mediates the associations between childhood difficulties and depressive symptoms among older Koreans.We use the nationally representative Korean Welfare Panel Study (KoWePS), and select respondents aged 60-79 years old (n = 3,234). A serial mediation model was performed using the Hayes’s PROCESS Macro, bootstrapped 5,000 resamples. The indirect and total effects of childhood difficulties on depressive symptoms in late life were significant. Level of education and coping strategies of family conflict in late life had mediating effects on the relationship between childhood difficulties and older adults’ depressive symptoms. Income in late life, however, hadn’t a mediating effect on the relationship. Family satisfaction in late life had a mediating effect only thorough level of education and coping strategies of family conflict in late life sequentially. Findings suggest that experience of childhood difficulties has an adverse impact on older adults’ psychological well-being through deprivation of education opportunities in childhood and non-constructive coping strategies of family conflict in late life. Tackling inequality in education over one’s life course, as well as helping individuals develop healthy coping strategies, may be considered to mitigate the negative impacts of childhood difficulties on late-life psychological well-being.

Parental Burnout in Israeli Parents of Children with ASD During Wartime: The Role of Child Behavior, Parental Emotion Regulation, Stress, and Social Support.

During emergencies like wartime, parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) face heightened challenges, potentially leading to Parental Burnout (PB). Wartime conditions can exacerbate children's behavioral difficulties, contributing to PB. Protective factors such as successful Emotional Regulation (ER) and perceived social support may mitigate PB. This study aims to compare child behavioral problems, parental ER difficulties, perceived social support, stress, and PB between parents of children with ASD and Typical Development (TD) during wartime. It also investigates how ER difficulties, perceived social support, and stress moderate the relationship between child behavioral problems and PB. The study included 213 Israeli parents: 101 parents of children diagnosed with ASD and 112 parents of TD children. Participants were recruited during the "Swords of Iron" War using purposive sampling via online platforms. Findings indicate that children with ASD exhibited higher levels of behavioral problems, and their parents experienced increased difficulties in ER, stress, and PB, alongside decreased perceived social support compared to parents of TD children. Moderation analysis revealed that ER difficulties, perceived social support, and stress moderated the direct association between child behavioral problems and PB specifically among parents of TD children. This study underscores the heightened vulnerability of parents with ASD-diagnosed children during wartime, emphasizing the importance of understanding how these circumstances impact parental well-being and available resources. Effective interventions should target enhancing ER, social support, and addressing parental stress, PB, and child behavioral issues, underscoring the need for prioritized services despite wartime challenges.

Sources of children's difficulties with non-canonical sentence structures: Insights from Mandarin.

The present study investigated whether children's difficulty with non-canonical structures is due to their non-adult-like use of linguistic cues or their inability to revise misinterpretations using late-arriving cues. We adopted a priming production task and a self-paced listening task with picture verification, and included three Mandarin non-canonical structures with differing word orders and the presence or absence of morphosyntactic cues. Forty five-to-ten-year-old Mandarin-speaking children were tested and compared to adults. Results showed that children were indistinguishable from adults in how they used different cues in real-time, although their performance in offline comprehension and production was more prone to errors but improved given the increase of age. These results suggest that the current child sample has adult-like cue-use patterns and use late-arriving cues to revise misinterpretations. The observed worse offline accuracy and production difficulties relative to adults result from their less developed domain-general abilities in performing tasks.

The associations between child behavioral problems, parents' emotional regulation difficulties, and parental burnout among Israeli parents of children with autism during wartime.

Parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) face heightened challenges during crises like war, leading to parental burnout (PB). Wartime demands may exacerbate the children's behavioral difficulties, which associated with PB. Successful emotional regulation (ER) is considered a protective factor for PB. This study aimed to explore the associations between the child behavioral problems, parent's ER difficulties and PB among parents of children ASD during wartime. 92 parents completed demographic, Parental Burnout, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation, and Child Aberrant Behavior questionnaires. In addition, 18 parents of children with ASD aged 6-21 were semi-interviewed. During wartime, child behavioral problems and parents' ER difficulties were positively correlated with PB, contributing beyond background characteristics and other changes following the war. Parent ER difficulties serve as a mediation variable and did not function as a moderation variable between child behavioral problems and PB. This study emphasizes the increased vulnerability of parents of children with ASD during wartime, highlighting the need for a deeper understanding of how these circumstances affect parental risk and resources. Effective interventions should target emotional regulation and address child behavioral issues, necessitating prioritized support for affected families despite wartime challenges.

Parents spontaneously scaffold the formation of conversational pacts with their children

AbstractAdults readily coordinate on temporary pacts about how to refer to things in conversation. Young children are also capable of forming pacts with peers given appropriate experimenter intervention. Here, we investigate whether parents may spontaneously provide a similar kind of scaffolding with U.S. children in a director–matcher task (N = 201, 49% female; ages 4, 6, 8). In Experiment 1, we show that parents initiate more clarification exchanges with younger children who, in turn, are more likely to adopt labels introduced by the parent. We then examine whether the benefit of such scaffolding acts primarily through childrens' difficulties with comprehension (Experiment 2) or production (Experiment 3). Our findings suggest that parents primarily scaffold pacts by easing children's production difficulties, modeling cooperative communication.

Mental healthcare in paediatric epilepsy clinics: implementation by non-mental health professionals

ObjectivesResearch has shown that children with epilepsy often experience mental health disorders but face barriers to effective care. One solution is to train healthcare professionals within paediatric epilepsy services to...

Intersectional inequalities in child social-emotional health: a case for proportionate universalism

Abstract Background Social-emotional difficulties in early childhood are associated with a range of outcomes across the life course and are related to socioeconomic factors. The aim of this study was to examine intersectional inequalities in social-emotional problems in preschool children relating to their parents’ income, education and country of birth in addition to investigating the public health implications. Methods This population-based study with a repeated cross-sectional design in the Västerbotten County of Sweden used the Ages and Stages Questionnaires: Social-Emotional (ASQ:SE) for children aged 3 in child health care services over the years of 2014-2018 and socio-economic information from national population registers. The effective sample of 8,823 individuals was analyzed using additive binomial regression in combination with an analysis of individual heterogeneity and discriminatory accuracy (AIHDA) approach to estimate risk differences for social-emotional problems across 27 intersectional groups and discriminatory accuracy. Results Average risk differences generally increased in the groups where multiple dimensions of social inequality intersected, with risk differences as high as 18% (95% CI 8 to 28%) and 25% (95% CI 14 to 37%) compared to the most advantaged category. The discriminatory accuracy of all three included regression models was estimated as moderate, but improved in a slight but statistically significant way with the addition of social inequalities. Conclusions This study increases our understanding of intersectional and social inequalities in social-emotional problems in preschool children. It supports the need for universal public health policies in addition to policies targeting more vulnerable groups when addressing this issue, consistent with the concept of proportionate universalism. An intersectional research perspective including discriminatory accuracy could increase our knowledge of health inequities and improve public health effectiveness. Key messages • Intersecting dimensions of social inequalities are associated with an increased risk of social-emotional problems in children aged 3. • Universal public health policies are needed in addition to policies targeting vulnerable population groups with regards to social-emotional problems in young children.

Childhood trajectories of emotional and behavioral difficulties are related to polygenic liability for mood and anxiety disorders.

Symptoms related to mood and anxiety disorders (emotional disorders) often present in childhood and adolescence. Some of the genetic liability for mental disorders, and emotional and behavioral difficulties seems to be shared. Yet, it is unclear how genetic liability for emotional disorders and related traits influence trajectories of childhood behavioral and emotional difficulties, and if specific developmental patterns are associated with higher genetic liability for these disorders. This study uses data from a genotyped sample of children (n = 54,839) from the Norwegian Mother, Father, and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). We use latent growth models (1.5-5 years) and latent profile analyses (1.5-8 years) to quantify childhood trajectories and profiles of emotional and behavioral difficulties and diagnoses. We examine associations between these trajectories and profiles with polygenic scores for bipolar disorder (PGSBD), anxiety (PGSANX), depression (PGSDEP), and neuroticism (PGSNEUR). Associations between PGSDEP, PGSANX, and PGSNEUR, and emotional and behavioral difficulties in childhood were more persistent than age-specific across early childhood (1.5-5 years). Higher PGSANX and PGSDEP were associated with steeper increases in behavioral difficulties across early childhood. Latent profile analyses identified five profiles with different associations with emotional disorder diagnosis. All PGS were associated with the probability of classification into profiles characterized by some form of difficulties (vs. a normative reference profile), but only PGSBD was uniquely associated with a single developmental profile. Genetic risk for mood disorders and related traits contribute to both a higher baseline level of, and a more rapid increase in, emotional and behavioral difficulties across early and middle childhood, with some indications for disorder-specific profiles. Our findings may inform research on developmental pathways to emotional disorders and the improvement of initiatives for early identification and targeted intervention.

Distance teaching, science teaching, and preschoolers’ reactions during the COVID-19 pandemic—A comparison of the first and third lockdowns

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic brought about a new reality in all aspects of life. The lockdowns significantly impacted early childhood educators, necessitating a shift in instructional methods. Preschool (3–6 years of age) teachers had to develop innovative, creative distance science learning activities that were engaging and age-appropriate. We asked: What pedagogical practices did preschool teachers implement in distance teaching and distance science teaching during the first and third lockdowns? How did the teachers cope with distance teaching, and how did they perceive the preschoolers’ behaviour and verbal interaction during remote meetings? How self-confident were the preschool teachers with distance science teaching? The study involved 386 teachers in the first lockdown and 232 in the third. Participants completed online questionnaires that included closed- and open-ended questions. Quantitative and qualitative data analyses revealed that WhatsApp and Zoom were the main means of communication. Most teachers advanced their distance teaching practices and their self-confidence from the first to third lockdowns. During the third lockdown, teachers produced educational, scientific short videos and developed instructions for simple scientific experiments at home. Children's difficulties in communicating remotely were mainly due to adults’ or other household members’ unavailability for support, which was greater during the third lockdown.

Feeding difficulties in childhood: A narrative review.

It has been estimated that between 25% and 40% of healthy children show symptoms of feeding difficulties (FDs) during their growth and development; manytimes,thesearenotadequatelydiagnosed. Theobjectiveofthisstudywastoconductanarrativereviewthatcollectedtheavailableinformationonfeedingdifficulties.Assessmentandmanagementalgorithmsweredevelopedbasedonthebibliographicevidence. Mostfeedingproblemsinyoungchildren(feedingselectivity,lossofappetite,fearoffeeding)areoftenconcurrent,andaclinicalriskassessmentisnecessarytoplananindividualizedintervention. Havingstandardizeddefinitionsandcommontermstoaddressthesedifficultiesinanappropriateandmultidisciplinarymannerisoneofthewaystooptimizetheirtreatment.Theinvolvementofdifferenthealthcareprovidersandparentsiscriticaltoaddressfeedingdifficulties.

The healthy habits questionnaire (HHQ): Validation of a measure designed to assess problematic influential behaviours amongst families of children living with obesity or a risk of developing obesity.

The 48-item Healthy Habits Questionnaire (HHQ-48) was developed to (1) monitor positive changes in family lifestyles following engagement in the Parents Plus Healthy Families (PP-HF) parent training programme and (2) be utilised as a standalone measure in clinical settings to identify and track problematic influential behaviours amongst families of children in weight-management services. This study aimed to develop and validate a brief version of the HHQ-48. The scale was administered to a cross-sectional community sample (n = 480), and on two occasions to a control sample (n = 50) and an experimental sample (n = 40) from a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of the PP-HF programme to assess test-retest reliability and sensitivity to change respectively. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis showed that a 23-item, 4-factor version of the HHQ (i.e., the HHQ-23) best fit the data. The scale and factor subscales had good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. They also had good concurrent and construct validity shown by significant correlations with another scale that assessed lifestyle issues, and scales that assessed parenting satisfaction, family functioning, and children's strengths and difficulties. The HHQ-23 was sensitive to change following parents completing the PP-HF programme. The HHQ-23 may, therefore, be used to monitor positive changes in family lifestyles following engagement in the PP-HF parent training programme. The HHQ-23 also shows promising potential as a standalone screening measure or as part of a larger battery of screening assessments in paediatric weight-management services.

A structural equation model of parenting and child's resilience after the earthquake in Türkiye.

This study investigated the relationship between parental psychological wellbeing, parenting, children's psychological difficulties, and prosocial behavior in Kahramanmaraş earthquake-affected families living in Türkiye in 2023. To this end, a mediation model was proposed for parental psychological distress that was hypothesized to exert an indirect effect on a child's psychological difficulties and prosocial behavior through parenting. Participants were 358 preschoolers between 4 and 6 years old and their one parent (father or mother) who completed a set of validated self-report surveys in a cross-sectional design study. Results showed positive associations between parental psychological distress and child's psychological difficulties but negative association with child's prosocial behavior. Furthermore, quality of parenting mediated the association between parental psychological distress and child's psychological difficulties and prosocial behavior. Our findings suggest that positive parenting may serve as a protective mechanism that mediates the association between parental psychological distress and a child's psychological difficulties and prosocial behaviors among families displaced by a natural disaster like an earthquake. These findings point to the need for supporting positive parent-child relationships in addition to decreasing the psychological distress of parents when exposed to potentially traumatizing events like this.

Introducing Mr. Three: Attention, Perception, and Meaning Selection in the Acquisition of Number and Color Words.

Children learn their first number words gradually over the course of many months, which is surprising given their ability to discriminate small numerosities. One potential explanation for this is that children are sensitive to the numerical features of stimuli, but don't consider exact cardinality as a primary hypothesis for novel word meanings. To test this, we trained 144 children on a number word they hadn't yet learned, and contrasted this with a condition in which they were merely required to attend to number to identify the word's referent, without encoding number as its meaning. In the first condition, children were trained to find a "giraffe with three spots." In the second condition, children were instead trained to find "Mr. Three", which also named a giraffe with three spots. In both conditions, children had to attend to number to identify the target giraffe, but, because proper nouns refer to individuals rather than their properties, the second condition did not require children to encode number as the meaning of the expression. We found that children were significantly better at identifying the giraffe when it had been labeled with the proper noun than with the number word. This finding contrasted with a second experiment involving color words, in which children (n = 56) were equally successful with a proper noun ("Mr. Purple") and an adjective ("the giraffe with purple spots"). Together, these findings suggest that, for number, but not for color, children's difficulty acquiring new words cannot be solely attributed to problems with attention or perception, but instead may be due to difficulty selecting the correct meaning from their hypothesis space for learning unknown words.

Parental experiences of raising an autistic child in Ireland: A qualitative thematic analysis.

Parenting an autistic child can be a challenging experience. Parents of autistic children often require social and professional support to cope with the various stresses they encounter and to ensure their children achieve their optimal potential. Recently, the way professional supports are organised in Ireland has changed. Very little previous recent research has investigated parents' experiences of raising an autistic child in Ireland. This study interviewed six parents asking them about their challenges, stress levels, coping strategies and their perceptions regarding professional support services. The data from these interviews were organised into themes. A major finding was that parents felt the healthcare system was failing to provide help for their children, and that support services in Ireland can cause more parental distress than dealing with their child's difficulties. Other causes of parental stress included the child's behaviours that they found challenging, stigma, a lack of awareness about autism and isolation. This study shows that both autistic children and their parents are at increased risk of developing mental health problems due to a flawed healthcare system that requires improvement urgently.

Psychiatric Difficulties in Children with Celiac Disease and the Relationship between Adherence to Treatment and Parental Attitudes.

Our knowledge of the factors related to parenting styles affecting adherence to diet in children with celiac diseases (CDs) and the association between psychiatric difficulties and diet compliance is largely based on limited data. Therefore, our work aims to examine primarily coexisting psychiatric difficulties in children with CD and raising attitudes of their parents and secondarily the relationship among adherence to treatment, psychiatric difficulties, and parental attitudes. Children aged 4-12 years (n = 42) who have been followed up with the diagnosis of CD in a Paediatric Gastroenterology Outpatient Clinic were compared with those of healthy controls (n = 31). One of the parents was asked to fill out the socio-demographic information form, Diet Compliance Form (only the patient group), "Parental Attitude Research Instrument" (PARI) and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire-parent form (SDQ). The scores from "emotional problems," "peer relationship problems," and "total difficulties" areas were statistically significantly higher in the disease group than healthy controls. The average score of SDQ subscales and none of the PARI subscales differed between dietary compliance +/- groups. Significant positive correlations were detected between disease duration and PARI-overprotection/extreme motherhood (r = .421, P = .017) and PARI-strict/hard discipline (r = .368, P = .038) subscales. Clarifying the factors related to parenting that may affect patients' adherence to a gluten-free diet will contribute positively to the course of the disease and the quality of life of patients and their families.

Theoretical Aspects of Applying Kaizen Principles in the Management of Support for Children in Difficulty

This paper develops a theoretical framework for the application of Kaizen principles in socio-economic support for children in difficulty. Rooted in Japanese management practices, Kaizen principles emphasize both continuous, incremental improvements and the elimination of inefficiencies in activities. The use of these principles in supporting vulnerable groups such as neglected and abandoned children, those exposed to violence, the homeless, or orphans, can improve the quality and efficiency of services through small, but permanent changes. Kaizen can create a more resilient and adaptable support system capable of meeting the evolving needs of children in difficulty, thus improving their quality of life.

Understanding pathways from feeding difficulties of children to mental health risks of mothers at critical stages of childrearing: Does social support make a difference?

BackgroundIdentifying the factors influencing mental health of mothers at critical stages of childrearing is significant for the implementation of effective promotion policies and counselling activities. ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate the relationships between children's feeding difficulties, marital quality, parenting quality and maternal mental health risks amidst Chinese mothers with high and low social support using a multi-group structural equation modelling approach. ParticipantsA cross-sectional study was conducted in Wenzhou, China and a total of 772 mothers with children aged 0–3 were surveyed by using purposive sampling. FindingsResults showed that of the 772 participants, 23.6 % reported anxiety, 50.1 % reported depression, 91.2 % reported insomnia, and 24 % reported feeding difficulties. The joint occurrence of multiple forms of mental problems is the most commonly reported features of mental health risks among mothers. The positive association between feeding difficulties of children and mental health risks of mothers was mediated by marital quality and parenting quality. In addition, feeding difficulties were not related to mental health risks in high social support group but all the relationships were significant in low social support group. ConclusionsThese findings highlight the importance of the specific interventions to enhance social support, marital quality and parenting quality for improving mental health of mothers of children with feeding difficulties.

Erratum: Socioemotional Reciprocity Difficulties in Children Living with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Erratum: Socioemotional Reciprocity Difficulties in Children Living with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Are a Child's Autistic Traits, Behavioural Difficulties, Prosocial Behaviour and Temperament Predictors of Parental Self-Efficacy and Satisfaction? A Study on Parents of Autistic and Neurotypical Children Aged 7-11 Years.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the significance of the severity of autistic traits, behavioural difficulties, prosocial behaviour and temperamental characteristics in children for parental self-efficacy and parental satisfaction in two groups of parents: parents of autistic children, and parents of neurotypical children. Data come from 145parents of autistic children and 239 parents of neurotypical children. Using hierarchical multiple regression analyses, the analysis explored the role of child characteristics in prediction of parental self-efficacy and parental satisfaction. The regression model tested explained 21% variation in parental self-efficacy and 27% variation in parental satisfaction in parents of autistic children and 3% of variation of results with respect to parental self-efficacy and 17% variation in parental satisfaction in parents of neurotypical children. In both groups, parental self-efficacy and parental satisfaction were negatively correlated with such child characteristics as severity of behavioural difficulties, severity of autistic traits and emotionality as also positively related to the child's prosocial behaviour. These findings may suggest that particularly useful mental health prevention programs for parents should combine two elements: developing parents' abilities of effectively coping with children's behavioural difficulties and working on attribution processes and negative convictions about parenthood.

'Of course you crash' Parenting a young child with neurodevelopmental difficulties

BackgroundParents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders often experience heightened levels of parenting stress and diminished well-being. However, less is known about the well-being of parents whose children exhibit symptoms of neurodevelopmental disorders without yet having a formal diagnosis. AimThis study aims to deepen our understanding of the need for support among families with young children with neurodevelopmental difficulties. Specifically, it explores parents’ perspectives concerning their children, life circumstances, and emotional experiences in parenting. Methods and proceduresQualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten parents of children aged 2.5–5 years, referred to a child psychologist due to reported neurodevelopmental difficulties. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using qualitative content analysis. Outcomes and resultsTwo themes, each containing four and three categories, respectively, emerged in the analysis: Parenting our child with neurodevelopmental difficulties is tough in so many ways and Prevent, manage and make up like a Pro. Conclusion and implicationsThe parents express very similar challenges, difficulties and problems as parents of children with diagnosed neurodevelopmental disorders. The main difference lies in the lack of accessible support or help for these parents. What this paper addsThis study provides insights into how parents of children with suspected neurodevelopmental difficulties perceive their child and their overall life circumstances. The narratives show the challenges these parents face due to their children's multifaceted difficulties, leading to a need for multi-disciplinary support from professionals. The narratives also illustrate the strong emotions that arise in parenting, which in itself indicates a need for support. The study also provides further support for the importance of parents connecting with others facing similar life circumstances. The families often feel isolated despite the need for increased informal support in terms of more adults being involved with the children.